The heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) targets seven of the more than 92 pneumococcal serotypes. Concerns have been raised that non-vaccine serotypes (NVTs) could increase in prevalence and reduce the benefits of vaccination. Indeed, among asymptomatic carriers, the prevalence of NVTs has increased substantially, and consequently, there has been little or no net change in the bacterial carriage prevalence.
The authors analyzed data from hospital admissions and enhanced mumps surveillance to assess mumps complications during the largest mumps outbreak in England and Wales, 2004–2005, and their association with mumps vaccination. When compared with non-outbreak periods, the outbreak was associated with a clear increase in hospitalized patients with orchitis, meningitis and pancreatitis. Routine mumps surveillance and hospital data showed that 6.1% of mumps patients were hospitalized, 4.4% had orchitis, 0.35% meningitis and 0.33% pancreatitis.
The agreed document will now go to WHO’s governing body the World Health Assembly in May 2011 (16-24 May) with a report from the Group and a Resolution strongly recommending adoption.
This study estimates the burden of disease of the pandemic influenza A(H1N1)2009 virus in the Netherlands during the pandemic season and compares it to the overall burden of disease by calculating Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), a composite measure that combines incidence, sequelae and mortality associated with a disease, taking duration and severity into account.
The United Kingdom has recently published a new influenza pandemic strategy for consultation with key stakeholders. The consultation runs to June 2011 and is the last stage before formal adoption.
The European network for arthropod vector surveillance for human public health (VBORNET), funded by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, holds its second annual general meeting at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, on 18-20 April 2011
An event that brings together expertise from such areas as social marketing, the behavioural sciences, strategic communications, health promotion, community engagement, policy development and advocacy.
This study establishes whether the immunisation with hexavalent vaccines increased the short term risk of sudden unexpected deaths (SUD) in infants in Italy, following the signal of an association between vaccination in the second year of life with a hexavalent vaccine and SUD in the two days following vaccination reported in Germany in 2003.
Current trends show both progress and challenges in fighting the spread of drug-resistant bacteria in Europe according to ECDC’s analysis on the state of antibiotic resistance in Europe. Since 2008, ECDC has been coordinating the European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD) – a European health initiative that promotes prudent use of antibiotics. On the occasion of the World Health Day 2011, ECDC Director Marc Sprenger presented the ‘Situation update on antibiotic resistance’ to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.